Mind Games
by n0xi0us.n1rvaNa
Summary: ZukoxOC. The story of a pair of no-mads who roam the earth kingdom, playing games with people as they please to survive. Will their games bring more misfortune to them than good?
1. Chapter 1

**note : Yes, I know I haven't been around for a while... I sincerely apologize for that. I will try to update this story as well as my other ones that haven't been updated for over a year as frequently as possible. A lot has been happening lately and I've been far too busy or just not in the mood. Here's a new story for ya! :P**

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER ONE:<span>  
><strong>**The Con Artists**

"Hey... Wake up..." I heard someone grunt. I groaned and put my arm over my face in an attempt to make the talking stop. I felt a hand gently graze my shoulder and begin to massage it. A few seconds later, that relaxing massage turned into someone trying to rip my shoulder out of its socket.

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" Jian yelled.

I knocked his hand away and sat up from my sleeping bag. "I'm up! I'm up! Sheesh!"

Jian snickered and I shot him a glare. "What time is it? Why are you waking me up so damn earl- AHH!" I was interrupted as a large section of earth came up from below me and made me jump up.

"What the hell, Jian!" I yelled. Jian knew I was not a morning person, yet he still loved to mess with me like this. I groaned at him as he snickered at me. I threw my pillow at his head as he continued to laugh.

"C'mon, pack your stuff up. We're leaving. I'm tired of lying around in the dirt." Jian said.

"That's surprising, coming from an Earthbender..."

"Hey, just because I'm an Earthbender, does not mean I like constantly sleeping outside when I can be sleeping in a nice comfortable bed at an inn. Now let's go. I'm starving!"

I sighed and got out of my sleeping bag. I rolled it up and put it next to my pack.

"Can you pack up any slower? I wanna actually try out what we planned on doing yesterday... Today... As in now..."

"You are so impatient! Spirits, can't you even wait five minutes?" I yelled back at him. Jian and I always got into little scuffles like this. Sometimes they even turned into physical fights, but I loved him like he was my own flesh and blood. We'd been best friends since I was eight and he was ten.

I pulled my clothes out of my pack and got changed as slowly as I could behind a bush nearby, ignoring Jian's calls for me to hurry up.

"Finally! C'mon, let's go!" Jian said with a huge smile on his face. He earthbended my pack and sleeping bag into the air. I caught them and strapped them onto my back. All his stuff was ready to go already as well.

I held my ground, struggling against Jian's pulls.

"Whatsa matter?" Jian asked as he turned around.

"I don't know about this, Jian... Even if we will get a lot of money from it, I think it's a little too risky..." I said.

"Oh c'mon, Tao! We've been practicing this for weeks, and besides, we made sure that there's no fire nation soldiers in this village for the past couple of days."

"I'm kinda nervous still..."

Tao put his hands on my shoulders. "Look, you'll be fine. We'll be smart about it. We'll walk around for half an hour to make sure no fire nation soldiers are there and then we'll do it okay? You got this."

I didn't reply for a couple seconds, but then I flashed him a small smile. "Okay."

Jian smiled back at me and then we began walking towards the village.

* * *

><p>"Look the rumors are true! The Avatar has returned!" Jian shouted.<p>

I gave Jian a weird look and let out a nervous laugh.

Jian projected his voice so other people could here, but not to make it so obvious that others would realize he was trying to get our attention "The Fire Nation has made us submit long enough! We now have our hero back! The spirits have answered our prayers! I can't believe you've returned after so long!"

"The Avatar?" a middle aged man questioned. As soon as he came up, a small crowd began to form.

"A mere girl such as you cannot be the Avatar!" another man shouted.

"Have you not heard of Avatar Kyoshi? Women are not inferior to the eyes of the Spirits!" a woman shouted.

The man grunted "If you're the Avatar, prove it!"

There was a little silence. "Alright..." I answered

At this time, Jian had already meshed with the growing crowd. He was wearing civilian clothes so that people wouldn't realize that he was an earthbender. My heart was racing. This was it. The trick Jian and I had been working on and perfected. I spotted Jian in the crowd. He nodded to me, meaning that he was ready. The silence was deep and now the crowd was huge. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in, exhaling slowly. My eyes shot open. As I took one large step forward, into a fighting stance, I bended a gust of air towards and above part of the crowd. Everyone let out a gasp and had a look of shock on their face. As I whirled around to my left, right next to the fountain behind me, I blasted a gust of wind into the water, picking it up. I thinned out the air around it and controlled it to make it seem like I was waterbending. I slowed myself down, going through my Tai Chi stances and the water danced around me, being channeled only by air. I raised my hands above my head and rotated by wrists around each other in a clockwise motion. The air-channeled water did the same. I played with it a little more and then returned the water to the fountain. I took another deep breath and brought my legs together. I brought up my left hand in front of my face, my pointer and middle fingers up against my forehead, while the others were folded down, and closed my eyes. This was merely a distraction. I sparked a flint in my right hand behind my back. No one noticed because they were looking at what appeared to be me concentrating in the front. The fountain was behind me, so no one from behind could see the flint. Once there was a spark, I encased it in air and dropped the flint into my robe. I whirled around again, swinging my hands over my head. As I faced forward again, I released the pressurized air ball in my right hand and blasted air into it from my left to amplify it. It appeared as if I had bended a large, fanning column of fire from my hands. I locked eyes with Jian for a second and he nodded again. I got into a strong horse stance, stomping my feet on the floor as I did so. Then I forcefully brought my hands up. At the same time, Jian tapped his foot once and a large wall of earth came up. I stepped forward, making two motions with my hands. At the same time, Jian raised his chin a little bit. A wave of earth came, and two spikes of earth destroyed the wall I had just made. I brought my hands up once again at shoulder level, palms facing down, and then forcefully brought them to waist level. All the earth that "I" had just bended went back to ground level and looked normal again. I brought my legs together once again, standing tall and bowed. There was about five seconds of silence before the cheers began. I looked at Jian and smirked as he meshed out of the crowd when they all ran close and surrounded me.

It had worked...

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><p>Jian sat back in his chair and patted his stomach. "Damn, that was an amazing meal! I am stuffed! I'm not gonna be able to eat for days!"<p>

"You were saying the opposite about three hours ago... Wouldn't stop complaining about how hungry you were..." I retorted.

"You know, you have been in such a sour mood since we got here. It's ironic that now that we're living in the lap of luxury you're miserable. You seemed so much happier when we were camping in the forest with our stomachs grumbling!"

I sighed. "I still kinda feel bad about this."

"Oh c'mon, Tao! Cheer up! We're getting what we needed and we did a good thing. The people of this village all looked as miserable as you do now before our little show. We gave them hope. Now, they think the Avatar actually returned." Jian argued.

"I guess so... But we have to careful when we do this next time... Don't want to run into the fire na-HEY!" I protested as Jian scooped up my bowl of noodles and slurped it greedily.

"Those are mine! You finished yours already!" I yelled trying to reach for him. Jian ducked out of the way and shoved his foot in my face to keep me away from him.

"EWW! GET YOUR NASTY, DIRTY FEET AWAY FROM ME!" I yelled, smacking his foot away.

He laughed and began to choke on the noodles.

"Good, that's what you get..." I said, crossing my arms and looking away from him.

"T-T-T-ao...C-Ch-oking..." Jian barely got out. His hands were around his neck.

"Oh, shut up... You're not-" I was interrupted by seeing Jian's face turning purple as he attempted to gasp for air.

"Spirits, Jian..." I said as I slapped him on the back hard. He coughed loudly, but that still didn't help. I got up and went behind him and gave him the Heimlich. After three squeezes, he spit out a wad of noodles and breathed deeply.

"Haha, that woulda been a story to tell... Jian, the mighty earthbender, defeated by four strings of noodles... You're such an idiot..." I said with a laugh.

"Hey! I coulda died! You shouldn't be laughing!" Jian retorted.

"Like I said, that's what you get... What can I say, Karma is on my side. You got that for putting your nasty foot in my face, stealing my food, and being glutinous. I don't see how you earthbenders walk around without shoes anyway..." I said.

"I don't see how airbenders walk around with shoes! You guys wouldn't even touch the ground if you didn't have to!"

"Every other person besides earth benders wear shoes... Some earth benders wear shoes too, you're just a weirdo..." I said.

"Who you callin' a weirdo!" Jian said.

I laughed. "Here, you can have the rest of it." I said, moving my bowl of noodles towards Jian.

"I don't think I'm gonna eat anymore right now..." Jian answered. I laughed."Yeah, yeah. I got that covered..." Jian muttered as he greedily.

In the middle of my laughter, the elderly woman who had allowed us to stay at her inn for free and cooked us the insanely large meal we were eating knocked on the door.

"May I come in?" she asked.

"Yes, of course." I said.

She entered with a smile on her face. "I don't mean to interrupt, but I was just wondering if you two needed anything else."

"Well, I think we co-"

I interrupted Jian before could be anymore a burden than we already were. "No, we're fine. Thank you so much for letting us stay here. You really didn't have to."

The woman smiled again. "It is my pleasure to accomodate you and your friend, Avatar Tao."

I faked a smile back at her. It hurt me to trick people like this. But, Jian was right when he said that we were giving people hope this way. Everyone in the village seemed a lot friendlier. It almost seemed like the Fire Nation or the war no longer existed in their minds. I thought about my family... They definitely wouldn't be proud of what Jian and I were doing.

"Is something wrong, dear?" the woman asked.

I shook my head a little, getting out of my thoughts. "No sorry, just a little tired. That's all."

"Alright then, I'll leave you two be. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything at all." with that, she gave us one more smile and then left. My fake smile faded away the second she closed the door. My thoughts haunted me once again.

"Tao..." Jian cooed softly.

"Tao-ran..."

I looked up at him. "Huh?"

"You're thinking about them again, aren't you?"

"Kind of hard to forget something like that, you know..."

Jian slid his foot back, making my chair slide to him. He my head fell on his shoulder as he brought me into a hug.

"I know... I know..."

I stayed silent and closed my eyes, holding back tears. I counted from ten down to one slowly and then raised my head with a sigh.

"Just another day." I said.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO:  
>The Wake Up Call<strong>

"I don't see how you don't feel bad for him... My poor baby is all alone outside in a stable while we're all comfy and warm inside!" I said as I poured a bucket of water on Kahn, my eel hound. He wasn't a giant eel hound, but he was still pretty big. He was still able to carry both Jian and I. We'd won him in a bet from another con artist in a previous town who wasn't aware that Jian was an earthbender or that we were more skilled at conning than he was. He had been my beloved pet for three years now.

"He's fine out here, Tao! You gotta stop treating him like a guppy! It's not good for him." Jian said, a little annoyed.

"What do you mean? He _still is_ my liddle guppy-wuppy! Aren't you boy!" I said as I ran my hands along his smooth skin. He made a little playful growl and snaked his neck around me, rubbing his head on my side. I laughed.

"See? Ya turned him into a big softie! I was trying to toughen him up when we just got him, but no!-"

"I don't see the use in toughening him up. He deserves love!" I said in a baby voice again. I pat the side of Kahn's face. He knocked me over and started licking me, making me spill the bucket of water I had just filled up from the tap all over myself. I laughed as Jian rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Okay, bud. Get off me, it's lunchtime for you." I said. Kahn obliged my request and backed off of me. He sat down and I grabbed another bucket full of fish, provided by the villagers. I began feeding him them one by one and Jian started complaining again.

"I thought you were gonna chew them up and throw them up so he didn't have to chew this time..." he said.

"Oh, stop it. Will you? You're just mad because he ended up liking me more than you!" I teased.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Jian said, walking away.

When I finished spending time with Kahn, I found Jian back at the inn. He was sitting in the backyard, enjoying what seemed to be... second lunch.

"You're eating again?" I asked.

Jian took a huge bite out of a fish filled rice ball and spoke while chewing. "The innkeeper saw me out here and just brought me some food... She's really nice... And her cooking is amazing!"

I rolled my eyes at him. "I think we should be leaving soon. We've already been here for four days."

Jian stuffed the other half of the rice ball in his mouth. I stared at him with an annoyed look on my face as he finished chewing and washed it all down by chugging a glass of watermelon juice that was on the table next to the plethora of food in front of him.

"I don't see why you're always so antsy to get moving again once we get comfortable... Can't you enjoy living in luxury for a couple days without getting all paranoid about things that aren't gonna happen?" Jian snapped.

I sighed. "Alright, fine. We stay here for two more days tops."

"You're such a party pooper!" Jian said as he gobbled down a piece of shrimp tempura.

"And you're such a slob..." I retorted. I stole a rice ball from Jian, ignoring his "HEY!" and walked away from him.

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><p>We'd moved on from the town. We were not in the third village that was victim to our conning, but I still felt bad. It was great at first, but now the guilt was really starting to set in. Jian kept on trying to convince me that we were doing a good thing, as usual. I didn't see how he was so callous when it came to playing games with people's heads. Whenever I asked he just said "Survival of the fittest does't refer to how strong one is physically... You gotta be mentally strong to make it too."<p>

That was surprising coming from a headstrong earthbender. He was the last thing to be talking about the mind... I looked at Jian as he was sprawled on the bed. Drool trickled out of his mouth onto his pillow. He snored loudly and a snot bubble grew bigger and shrank with the tempo of his breathing. I shook my head.

I went to take a sip of my tea as the door flew open. When it slammed on the wall, Jian jolted up.

"I wasn't snoring!" Jian yelled.

"No one-"

The innkeeper interrupted me before I could finish my sentence "Avatar Tao! It's the Fire Nation! They're looking for you! You must lea-"

"No, I'm not running away from them. Let's go, Jian." I said.

Jian got up, the silly look on his face had faded. I also had a look of determination on my face.

"But, you must! Leave town now and we will all cover for you!" the man continued.

I grabbed my shoulder pad and arm guard on the table and put them on.

"You ready?" Jian asked as he put on his studded arm bracers.

"Yepp."

I turned to the man as we walked towards him and put my hands on his shoulders. "Thank you so much for all your hospitality. You and the rest of the villagers have been more kind than you need to. Now, it's time for us to return the favor."

Jian and I walked out of the inn to find all the members of the village standing in a semicircle around a boy about my age with a scar on his face with armor similar to the six other men with him. Their ship was docked in the river next to the village.

"Where are you hiding the Avatar? I got word that he was in this village!" the boy yelled. Everyone remained silent.

"Ya hear that? He said 'he'... So, if you're planning on blaming this on us, it's not our fault." Jian whispered

I chuckled at him a little bit. "This is still completely our fault. He had to get word of the Avatar being here from somewhere"

"You're nuts." Jian said.

"I know you're hiding him here..." the boy said. He did a simple hand motion to his cohorts and they tossed an old panhandler out on the dirt next to him.

"There's your answer..." Jian replied.

"Your fellow villager here has told us of his prese-"

"Her presence! The Avatar is a woman!" the peddler said in a weak, raspy voice. I could see the anger on the villager's faces. I saw a bunch of people attempt to step in front of me inconspicuously.

"A woman?... Show me..." the boy said.

My glaring eyes caught the peddlers. He looked away a little and then returned his gaze to mine. He shakily rose his hand up and pointed at me.

"It is her."

I still couldn't be seen.

"Who are you talking about?" the boy yelled at him.

He pointed to me yet again. I was still hidden behind the people. Obviously, this man was either a little blind, or a little delusional.

"Y-You said I had to show her to you and I did... Please, sir... M-My reward!" the peddler said.

"You want your reward, now. Do you?" the boy retorted. The panhandler nodded.

"Then take it!" the boy yelled. He charred the old man to a crisp with fire.

He turned to the villagers. "Now, where is the Avatar?"

I tried to step up, but Jian pulled on my arm. "What are you doing?"

"Jian, he just turned that poor man into a pile of ash! We have to do something!" I said.

"Back me up, will ya?" I asked, turning to Jian with a smike.

"Always." Jian answered.

I stepped forwards, pushing through the villagers in front of me, who tried to get me to retreat. "I am the Avatar."

"You? Heh, a woman such as you could not be-"

I pulled my Sanjiegun(three-sectioned chinese staff) and spun it around, blasting air at the boy. He stepped to the side and it hit the soldier behind him hard. A look of utter shock took the place of his angry one after seeing me airbend, but that regular look of anger returned shortly.

"GET HER!" He yelled. I looked back at Jian and he nodded. One of the soldiers with the boy attempted to fire bend at me, I spun around, swinging my Sanjiegun with me and extinguished the flame before it could get far from his extended fist. As another one tried to charge at me, he was sent flying into the air by Jian's earthbending. The villagers scattered at this point, running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I couldn't blame them. I was frightened of fire myself whenever it got too close. Fighting any of these firebenders hand to hand would be hard for me if they decided to enforce fire into any of their attacks. Before another fireblast could hit me, Jian jumped out in front of me and put up a shield of earth. I cowered against him slightly, but he gave me a look of reassurace. I brought up a large gust of wind that made the dust on the ground come up. I split ways from Jian as we began to take down the firebenders, slowly one by one.

I heard the boy's voice cut through the dust cloud. "Why don't you use any other elements besides wind, Avatar?"

I compressed an airball from having a diameter of about two and a half feet to one of the size of a pool ball. Then I silently creeped behind him.

"Because I don't have to." I whispered in his ear. He turned around, blasting fire at me. I ducked and then pushed the airball into his chest. He let out a yell as he was sent flying away. This technique that I had just done was new age airbending. I raised my hands above my head and swooped them out to my sides, bringing them back up by my chest with my palms facing up. More dust rose from the ground, making the dust thicker. I heard Jian cough a little, followed by "Oh, shit!" and a couple punches as well as earthbending.

"Put the dust down...!" I heard the boy yell. I looked beyond the dust to see a faint image of the boy holding someone. I walked closer to him, but remained far enough in the dust cloud so that I couldn't be seen by him. He was holding an old woman with a fire dagger to her throat.

"Put the dust down, or I kill her!" He yelled. I sighed... What a dirty way to get what you want... Then again, what Jian and I were doing to the people we conned was just as dirty. I brought both my hands up a little, palms facing down, and then flipped them over and dropped them. The dust settled, revealing Jian and me standing with only two more firebenders remaining.

"Now... Both of you come peacefully with me, or the woman dies." the boy said.

I laughed. "You're pathetic, you know that? Oh, what great stories you'll be able to tell... Capturing the Avatar by threatening to kill a defenseless woman. If you were a real man, you'd fight me one on one."

I could feel Jian giving me a death glare from the back of my head. Like I said, I wasn't good with firebending all "up in my face".

"That can be arranged... At a later time. We'll have plenty of time for that on the way back to the Fire Nation." the boy said.

Jian started to clench his fist, but the boy caught sight of it "Move a muscle, Earthbender, and I'll kill her before you can even blink..."

Jian relaxed his tensed muscles. "Coward..."

"Get them out of here..." the boy said. I turned around and saw Jian get hit hard to the back of the head. He fell to the ground, out like a light. I ducked under the elbow of a soldier and brought my pointer finger and thumb to the corners of my mouth. I blew as hard as I could and a high pitched whistle echoed.

"You want this woman to die?" the boy yelled. The woman cried out in fear as his grip tightened around her. I stood up straight again and closed my eyes. I would resist no more. Not a second later, I was hit with an elbow to the back of the head.


	3. Chapter 3

**note: pics of OCs on my site aeonsoul234 . webs . com**

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER THREE:<span>  
><strong>**Fear**

I groaned as I opened my eyes. My head was throbbing. I blinked a couple times, but my vision was still blurry. It was hard to make out my surroundings. I tried to raise my right hand to scratch my eyes, but then I noticed they were tied to my back. I groaned again, but this time in frustration... My eye was itchy.

"You finally awake?" I heard Jian say.

"Where are we?" I asked. I slowly sat up to find myself in cell. The room that I was in was rather large, but cell that I was in was tiny. I looked around... No Jian.

"And where are you?" I asked again. I heard what sounded like two knocks on metal and looked in the direction it came from. There was a large metal box with one 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 ft. bared opening.

"In this lovely anti-earthbending cell they've got here... I don't get it... The whole freakin' ship is made out of metal and ya still gotta put me in a box?" Jian yelled.

I chuckled a little.

"What the hell are you laughing at! Do you have any idea what kind of situation we're in right now? We're on a metal ship in the middle of the ocean, only the spirits know where, on the way to the damned Fire Nation!" Jian yelled.

"Don't worry about this one, I got it covered..." I retorted. Jian answered with silence.

"Hey, on the bright side, we got a place to stay free of charge for a little while." I said.

Jian answered me with a simple "Pfft..."

"Just tell me when you want to be out of here..." I said.

"Well, I don't know... How about now?"

"Alrighty, you said it... Don't blame me if you're all tired and can't fight well."

"Uh, earth to Tao, THERE'S NO EARTH HERE, I COULDN'T FIGHT HERE ANYWAY!" Jian said.

"Well, then you're a little useless to me here, then, aren't you...?" I said.

"So you're just gonna leave me here, then?"

"Of course not, Jian! Why would you even say that? Sheesh, you're such a debbie downer when you're pissed off."

"... It's not my fault. I've been standing for hours... Stupid people who made this thing couldn't even five me space to sit down... And I have to pee..."

I laughed. "Alright, alright. I'll come back for you, I swear."

"You better..."

I raised my pointer finger of my right hand and made compressed airblade. I slowly sawed at the ropes that were binding me until they fell to the ground.

_"Alright... Kahn has to be following the ship... I really hope he is anyway. If he isn't then both of us are screwed... Can't keep him waiting long."_ I thought. I waved my hands in circles around each other once and compressed the air around me to cover them. Then I put my hands in between the two bars in front of me and expelled the air in opposite directions, making the bars bend as I spread my hands. I stepped out of the cell and ran for the door. I blasted air at it, making the hatch spin and the door slam open.

"What the hell was that?" three men in uniform and helmets turned around to find me standing in front of the hatch,

"Shit..." I muttered. I waved both my hands in a large circle in unison and sped off, using my airbending to make me run faster. Unfortunately, since I was looking back to make sure they hadn't followed me, I bumped into another one. I stopped and reached for my Sanjiegun... which wasn't there.

_"Damn it! Freakin' thing was so expensive! I have to get that back!" _I thought. I got into a fighting stance as the soldier in front of me drew his sword. Two more surrounded me. I was still in the lower levels of the ship and had no idea of its layout, so I was basically just running around like aimlessly. I honestly had no idea what the hell I was doing... It was pretty stupid of me not to break Jian out, but he would be helpless in this situation. All he would have was his hands to fight the soldiers. I had a notion that this would not be the time we would escape though. We wouldn't be able to escape without knowing a little bit about the ship. There were WAY too many crew members we could bump into as I had now figured out.

"The Avatar! Alert Prince Zuko and General Iroh, now!" one man yelled. I took a large breath in and blew air at all of them since they surrounded me from one side. They all yelled out a little as they slammed into the metal wall. I sped past them, using my airbending once again. I made my way to what seemed to be the hatch up to the deck, pushing soldiers aside as I ran, just as I had did with the first couple of soldiers that I had encountered. I bended air at the hatch door, just as I had done when I broke out of the room where me and Jian were held captive, and ran up the stairs onto the deck. I stopped running abruptly when I saw "Prince Zuko" standing in the middle of the deck. Once again, there was a look of anger on his face. I looked to his right side and saw my Sanjiegun tucked into the belt of his armor. He saw my eyes linger and picked up the Sanjigun, tossing it up and down in the air.

"Looking for this?" he asked.

I glared at him.

"Well, come get it then..." a smirk made its way across his lips as he slipped my Sanjiegun back into his belt and got into a firebending stance.

I eyed him intently and stepped forward, getting into an airbending stance. We began to circle each other.

"I guess I underestimated you... It takes skill to be able to wield a Sanjiegun. You know, I'm actually excited to see what you can do, Avatar." the boy said.

"I am too, _Prince_ Zuko... Tell me, what is royalty such as you have with doing dirty work, like looking for me?" I asked with sarcasm in my voice.

"That's none of your business." He retorted. His voice was calm, but I could see by the bulging vein in his neck that my question had gotten him angry. My heart began to race... This guy was a firebender... From the looks of his stance, a good one at that. As I said before, I wasn't too comfortable with fire... Near me... At all... I couldn't let him see that though. I contemplated on how aggressive I should be in this fight, but before I could get too engrossed in my thoughts, he made the first move. He blasted a ball of fire at me. I shielded my side with side and stepped out of the way. I ducked under another fire blast and moved to the left to dodge a third. I could feel my heart beating fast in my chest.

_"Okay.. Okay... C'mon, Tao. You can do this! Just relax..."_ I thought, trying to motivate myself not to curl up into a ball and cower away from his flames. I ran for him and tried to hit him with a flying kick. He easily dodged it, but not I was closer to him. I turned around and enforced a wave of air that fanned out with another kick, he tumbled backwards and then got up, fire expelling from his nostrils. He charged for me and stopped about ten feet in front of me, kicking another fire ball. I dispelled it with air, but was hit with another ball. I yelped and was sent rolling on the floor.

"You're surrounded by water, Avatar. Why don't you use it?" he asked before he walked up to me. I got up right as he put his hands, surrounded by flames, together above his head. Right before they crashed down on me, I got up. I surrounded my left arm, the one without the metal guard on it, in air and crossed both my arms above my head to block the flames. I controlled my urge to shake from the fire being so close to me.

"I have a name you know..." I said as we struggled against eachother.

"And what would that be?" Zuko asked.

"Tao... And I'm not using any other elements because I don't need _to_!" As the word "to" came out of my mouth, I uncrossed my arms making his hands flail away and setting him of fbalance a little. I quickly compressed a small airball around my right fist and punched his right side. He tumbled into the side of the ship. Now I'd gotten him mad. He charged at me, sending a barrage of flames. I dispelled most of them, backing closer to the superstructure of the ship, but was hit by the last three of his combo. I yelled as I was slammed into the superstructure and sank to the ground. I was breathing hard and fighting back tears. My ears were ringing. I didn't notice his footsteps until he was about five feet away from me. I looked up at him as he stood in front of me. He picked me up by the throat and slammed me into the metal wall of the superstructure.

"What was that about not needing other elements, now?" he asked with a smirk on his face. His hand heated up around my throat. I started to shake and tears welled up in my eyes as I clutched at his hand with both of mine. His smirk grew bigger.

"Let's see..." he said softly. He brought his fist back. It ignited in flames. He went to punch me in the face with it. I let out a yell and enforced my hand with air, knocking it away just in time.

He laughed and let go of me. My legs gave in as I landed on the floor and I started to sob.

"The Almighty Avatar is scared of fire... How ironic..." He said. I sat there on the floor, helpless and unable to get up. I was uncontrollably shaking and crying now. I heard more footsteps. Three soldiers surrounded me. I kept my gaze at the spot of the metal deck in front of me.

"Take her back to the cell... Shackle her this time. She'll be a lot more docile if you use firebending." Zuko said. I was grabbed by the hair by a soldier. I moaned in pain and obliged to his request. Once I was on my feet, he turned me around towards the stairs to the lower level of the ship. I knocked his hand away as he pushed me towards the stairs. I angrily wiped my tears away and brushed myself off as two soldier pulled out their swords and went on both sides of me. The other one lingered behind me as they all walked me to the stairs. I looked at Zuko one more time before I descended the stairs. That same smirk was still plastered on his face. The soldier to the left of me opened the hatch and walked in front of me. The other one who was on my right fell behind me as we walked through the narrow corridor. We reached the cell again and I locked eyes with Jian in the metal anti-earthbending box he was in. I was walked over to a wall on the side adjacent to where Jian's cell was. The two soldiers with the swords sheathed them and got the shackles on the floor, right in front of the wall, ready for me. I put up a little struggle as they tried to grab me and chain me up. My struggle was met with a large wave of fire. I let out a yell and heard Jian call my name as I backed up towards the wall. Even though I leaned back, it singed my hair a little. I started to cry again. The soldiers all laughed and took the opportunity to shackle me. I sank to the floor.

"So much for the Avatar being able to save the world from us, huh?" one of the soldiers said to another as he smirked at me. I glared at him, gritting my teeth and waved my right hand from my right side to my left, hitting two out of the three of them with a strong wave of wind as I let out a little yell. The yelled as they slammed into the other side of the room. The other one had gone against the wall I was on just in time. He went in front of me and kicked me in the stomach. I clutched my stomach and curled into a ball on the floor.

He leaned down and spat in my face. "You think you're so tough, huh?"

With that, he walked out of the room.

"Don't touch her!" Jian yelled.

"What the hell are you gonna do, earthbender? Bend the metal and save this pathetic little shit?" one of the soldiers I had knocked down said as he walked back towards me.

The other trailed behind him, laughing. I sat up and glared at the two soldiers walking towards me. They stopped about nine feet short of me and had smirks on their faces. The firebender rolled his hands together once and extended them towards me forcefully. A large fireball came from his hands. I yelled again and fell to the floor, covering my head with my hands as I closed my eyes and started crying again. I heard Jian call my name again with anger in his voice as the soldiers all laughed. I didn't lift my head up, not even when I heard their footsteps all fade away and the door close. I was shaking, once again. Jian cooed my name softly, but I still didn't lift my head up.


	4. Chapter 4

**note: sorry for the long wait... Been in a bad funk lately...**

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHAPTER FOUR:<span>  
><strong>**The Truth Revealed**

_A woman with a gentle smile. Her curly caramel hair danced around her face with the flowing breeze. Three children around her smiled; A girl with hair darker than hers that was mostly covered by a pink bandana, a smaller boy with an Alpaca hat, and another boy who was older than the other two, with a dark mustard chinese style cap on his head. Laughter was heard from the infant strapped to her back as she controlled the wind around her to dance around all of the children. _

_The boy with the dark brown hair and the chinese cap smirked. He grasped some of the wind and blasted it at the girl with the pink bandana. She cried out as she tumbled on the ground. The boy laughed._

_The girl shot up. "That's not funny, Junjie!"she yelled._

_Both of the boys snickered. Their laughing stopped when he looked up at the woman, who had a stern look on her face._

_"Junjie, what have I told you before about using airbending that way?"_

_The boy had a sad look on his face. "I'm sorry, Auntie Lien."_

_The woman's face softened and she rustled the boy's hair. "Airbending is not supposed to be used for violence. The spirits have blessed us with such great power. We should not anger them and abuse it... The spirits also say that you should play nice with your cousins."_

_The boy laughed, but the girl still remained pouting._

_ "Now apologize to Tao, both of you."_

_"We're sorry Tao.." both of the boys said. The girl pouted and stormed away. Both of the boys had a hurt look on their face. _

_"Run along you two. I'll talk to your cousin." the woman said as she turned the sash that held the infant around. She picked the infant up out of the sash and cradled it gently in her arms as she walked up to the girl._

_"Sweetie, what's the matter?" she asked._

_"It's not fair, mommy! Junjie's always been better at airbending than me! Why does he always learn things so much faster than I do?" the girl said, angrily._

_Her mother put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Tao, look at me."_

_The girl obliged and looked up at her mother._

_"You are a great airbender. You just started to learn airbending. I'll tell you a secret. You know, Junjie wasn't always good at airbending. I remember when he was your age, he would always lose control of the air around him and end up making himself tumble all over the place when he was practicing... You on the other hand always had such a gentle way of controlling the wind." _

_She paused for a minute and tapped the girl's nose softly. "I think that you will be a much better airbender than he is... As long as you keep up with your studies and training, of course."_

_The girl laughed and hugged the woman. "Now run along, Tao..."_

* * *

><p>"Tao... Tao... TAO!" a voice yelled. I jolted up.<p>

"What... Mom...?" I groaned.

"No, I'm not your mommy..." Jian's pissed off voice said.

I got up and shook my head. Of all the times to dream of my family, it had to be on a fire nation ship.

"Got any more bright ideas that won't have you thrown back in here, crying? Cuz you know, the ship ain't slowin' down for you to think." Jian asked.

"Don't worry about that...We're getting out of here now..." I said.

"Things didn't turn out so well the last time you said that." Jian retorted.

"They will this time..." I answered.

* * *

><p>The hatch door opened. Prince Zuko walked in by himself.<p>

"So, the guards said that you had something you wanted to tell me... Now, what would that be?" he said, stopping in front of me.

I looked up at him and smirked. "Come a little closer."

Zuko's eyes narrowed suspiciously for a second before he stepped closer.

"I wanna tell you a secret." I said. I got up, hiding a compressed airball that I had in my right hand. Since I was quite short, I could still stand up almost perfectly straight with the shackles on my hands. Zuko backed up a little, his hands ready.

"You want to bring me back to the fire nation for some reason, right?" I asked.

"I said that before didn't I?" Zuko answered.

"Well..." I said.

I leaned in close to him and pressed my cheek up against his. I felt his body tense up and saw a light coming from his hands heating up. I held back the urge to jump back and curl into a little ball.

"You've got the wrong person..." I whispered in his ear. In one motion, I broke the chains with the airball and shoved it against Zuko's chest, making him slam into the wall.

"Jian!" I yelled. Jian braced himself against the wall of the anti-earthbending box. I swirled my hands around each other quickly, creating another compressed airball about the size of a bowling bal,l and ran up to the side of the box. I slammed the airball into the barred window and the sides of the box were sent flying off. I stepped to the side, catching Jian and putting him on my back. I ran for the door as I inhaled and blew a gust of wind at the door, making it slam open. Zuko chased after us, calling for the guards. I put Jian down and slung his arm across my shoulders.

"T-That freakin' hurt!" Jian yelled in my ear.

"OW! YOUR FREAKIN' YELLING HURTS MY EARS! And what did ya except it to feel like a breeze on a summer day or somethin'? Cos' I'm pretty damn sure light breezes can't break metal!" I yelled back at him.

The guards started to swarm as we were running. I swung Jian onto my back and picked up speed, using airbending. I held onto him tightly as I ran through the lower levels of the ship. I ran through all the sides of the hallway we were going through in spirals. I couldn't use my hands to airbend, so evading was the best bet I had.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" I heard Zuko's voice yell from behind us.

"Tao! Tao! Tao!" Jian yelled.

"What?" I yelled back.

"I think you better run faster!" Jian said. I glanced back and saw Jian looking back where we came from. I turned my head to see a huge column of fire heading our way.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" I yelled. I spun around and threw Jian into the hatch door that led to the stairs to the deck. He yelled as he slammed into it, making it open. I turned around and swirled air around myself, then I thrusted both of my hands forward and closed my eyes, forcing the air against the column of fire. I was sent flying back into Jian. He groaned and helped me up. We both limped up onto the deck, where we saw that we were surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers. We both turned around as we heard footsteps. Zuko ascended from the stairs.

"You hit a dead end..." he said.

I gulped and looked at Jian. His face was stern, but I could tell that he was shaken just as much as I was. He was helpless in this situation. Not a chunk of earth was to be found on this ship.

"Now, what did you mean by 'You've got the wrong person'...?" Zuko asked, his anger growing.

"What else would I mean, dim-wit? I'm not the Avatar!" I yelled back at him.

"How is that possible? You can airbend! Airbenders have been extinct for a hundred years now!"

"Well, I guess your ancestors didn't do quite as good of a job as they thought they did... Guess that trait runs in the family considering that you jumped ship on the first airbender you saw without even asking. I'm not even as old as your supposed 'Avatar' should be!"

He yelled and fire expelled from his ears, nostrils, and mouth. I ducked down a little, covering my head with my hands. I heard the fire nation soldiers chuckle.

"What the hell are you laughing **_at_**!" As the word "at" came out of my mouth, I spun around with my left arm out, sending a wave of air that knocked all the soldiers back. Both Jian and I were hit with a hard fire blast that made us tumble on the deck. I picked my head up, inhaling deeply, and brought the thumb and pointer finger of my right hand to my lips. I whistled as loud as long and loud as I could, using airbending to make the sound louder. As the first sound came out, shock waves expelled from me. Everyone bent down and covered their ears.

_"C'mon, Kahn!" _I thought. My whistled was answered by a roar from Kahn. I could hear it even though my ears were ringing extremely loud. I got up and ran across the deck, fire hot on my steps. I looked and Kahn wasn't there.

_"Spirits, why does my luck have to be so bad?"_ I thought.

I yelped as I ducked under a fireblast coming from Zuko. I looked at Jian on the other side of the deck. Fire Nation soldiers surrounded him as he slowly began to get up. My eyes reverted to Zuko, angry as hell in front of me. I air-ran at him, zig-zagging to avoid his fire blasts. I jumped and flipped over him. As we came face to face, I kissed him on the nose. I continued to run towards Jian, looking back. Zuko's face softened for a millisecond as he turned red as a tomato and brought his hand to his nose. His face reverted back to anger as he did a spinning kick in the air, letting out a yell and tree waves of fire. I slung Jian's arm across my shoulders. At the same time, I cloaked us in air and yelled as we were sent flying back by the waves of fire that hit the wave of air shielding us. Both of us screamed as we toppled over the deck rail and splashed into the water. I grabbed Jian's hand under the water and swam towards Kahn. Even though we were underwater, fire blasts were still chasing us. Kahn dove underwater and found us quickly after scanning the area around him. We stopped swimming and he swam under us. Both of us grabbed onto him and he darted for the surface. We gasped for air as we both reached the surface and laughed as Kahn swam away slowly.

I turned around and faced the ship. I saw Zuko gripping the railing, watching us.

"Try again next time, Ponytail!" I yelled back at him.

I saw fire expel from Zuko as he yelled in anger, yet again. He sent a huge fireball after us. I yelped, turning around and hugging Jian, who was holding onto Kahn's reigns.

"Hup-hup!" Jian yelled as he grabbed onto the handles on Kahn's saddle and kicked him lightly. Kahn obliged and dove underwater, darting through it. My arms were wrapped around Jian's waist, holding on as tightly as I could. Kahn sped through the water by thrashing his body and tail. His arms were at his sides and his legs together. He moved so fast that my legs, as well as Jian's, were waving in the water. Jian held on tightly to the handles of the saddle, which were separate from the reigns. We covered a mile every minute and a half. After forty grueling seconds, Kahn surfaced. Once again, we were gasping for air, but we had lost the fire nation ship in the dark of the night.


	5. Chapter 5

**author's note: once again, sorry i haven't been around... -.-"**

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 5:<span>  
>What now?<br>**

"Any bright ideas now...?" Jian said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He was laying down behind me while I leaned against Kahn's neck. We were still out at sea... And we'd been here for about two days now.

I sat up and turned around. "Don't blame this on me! We wouldn't be in this situation if we had just stopped doing the Avatar act when I wanted to!"

Jian sat up and laughed a little. "Are you kiddin' me, Tao? You're the one that wanted to go to Han-Xiao Village! I told you that I had a bad feeling about that place!"

I growled at him and pulled at my hair a little.

"Yeah, exactly! So don't even-" Jian started

"THAT WAS YOU, YA IDIOT!" I yelled, flailing my arms. Kahn groaned. He never liked it when we bickered.

Jian chuckled uneasily. "Eh... Oh yeah..."

I grunted. "This is pointless... We'll reach land soon... Probably..."

We had been feeding ourselves with fish Kahn caught for us. I felt bad since not only was he carrying us in the middle of the ocean, he was also feeding us. Still, both of us were parched.

"We should stop for the night. Kahn is tired and we're not going to be able to see land in the dark anyways." I said.

"Hopefully we don't get attacked by Lion Sharks again this time..." Jian complained.

"Spirits, Jian! Can you complain about anything else?" I yelled.

"I'm sorry I don't like being in the water as much as the overgrown guppy does!"

Kahn growled in response. I was about to open my mouth to defend him, but he whipped his tail up in the air and sent Jian flying about 15 feet. I laughed and hugged Kahn.

"Good boy! Don't let stupid Jian make fun of you..." I said in a baby voice before petting him.

"Stop babying him!" Jian yelled as he passed me. He floated on his back as he kicked his legs. I got some rope that was in the satchel of Kahn's saddle and tied it around my waist. I tied the middle of it to one of the handles of Kahn's saddle and then threw the end of the rope to Jian before lowering myself into the water. Jian tied the rope around his waist.

"If I wouldn't drift away I wouldn't tether myself to you, I hope you know that..." Jian said to Kahn.

"Just keep talkin' to him like that... Better watch out, he might chew that rope off in your sleep..." I said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Hope you get more pruny than you already are." Jian retorted.

* * *

><p>I groaned as I was hit into Kahn. With my eyes still closed, I grabbed him, leaning my head against his body. Kahn's head perked up and he stiffened again after a couple minutes.<p>

"What's wrong boy?" I asked him, groggily opening my eyes. He beamed in front of us and started growling a little.

I rubbed my eyes, forgetting we were in salt water.

"AH, MY EYES!" I yelled.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Jian yelled back. I yelped, I didn't even notice he had drifted next to me. I blinked hard getting the salt out of my eyes and then looked over to where Kahn was still growling. There was...

"LAND! JIAN! WE'RE NEAR LAND!" I shouted, grabbing Jian's shoulder and shaking him. I could see an island... though it looked miles and miles away.

"Jian, wa-" I screamed, out nowhere an elephant koi leaped over our heads. Kahn started swimming... He was scared of them since they were so much bigger than he was.

"Kahn! Calm down!" I yelled. He plunged into the water with us dangling behind him, still tethered to the saddle. I struggled to get to the reigns of the saddle. Kahn was swimming away from the land... I had to get him to calm down... But first I had to get him to surface. What I was wondering was why he was swimming in the same direction of the elephant koi if he was scared of them. I looked back to see a small school of about five of them behind us, gaining fast. I grabbed Kahn's reigns and pulled them up towards the surface as hard as I could. Kahn roared and bolted towards air. We surfaced within seconds.

"What the hell is up with him?" Jian yelled, coughing up water. Both of us got on top of the saddle.

"I think he's scared of the elephant koi!" I said. Kahn was struggling against my commands with the reigns to stay put, thrashing his head back and forth. I hugged his neck, trying to steady him. As some more elephant koi swam beside us and jumped over our heads.

"Calm down, Kahn!" I yelled.

"Tao!... Tao!" Jian yelled.

"I'm trying to calm him down, shut up!"

Suddenly, a huge black sea monster surfaced in front of us and roared. My mouth dropped open.

"I don't think he was scared of the elephant koi..." Jian said as we both looked up at the giant serpent.

"Hup-hup!" I said, snapping Kahn's reigns. He dove under the water. I directed him around the serpent, towards land. The serpent dove right after us. I heard Jian grunt in the water and looked back. I tugged the reigns to the right, dodging a stream of water the serpent blew at us just in time. I whipped the reigns again to signal Kahn to go faster since the serpent's mouth was feet away from us, but Kahn was swimming as fast as he could. I couldn't hold my breath anymore and made Kahn surface... Bad idea. The last thing I remember was being sent tumbling in the water...

* * *

><p>A final pound on my chest and my eyes shot open, coughing up water. I wasn't sure of what was going on, my vision was still blurry.<p>

"Please, we're not from the fire nation!" I heard. I saw a flash of green and Jian go down.

"J-Jian..." I uttered. I leaned up weakly and tried to reach out for him, but was met with a blow to the head that knocked me out once again.

* * *

><p>Freezing water splashed on my face. My eyes shot open and I gasped. I tried to get up, but I then I realized that I was tied chained tightly to a column.<p>

"What the-" I started. My eyes were blindfolded.

"Jian, Kahn!" I yelled.

"Don't try calling for your eel hound. We've got him locked up in the stable. Don't bother earthbending either. You're tied up in chains." I heard a male voice say.

"Where's my brother?" I yelled. Jian was pretty much family, so I did consider him my brother.

"I'm here, Tao." Jian's voice said next to me.

"Who are you, and what do you want with us!" I yelled.

"We're the ones asking the questions here... If they're not answered, you're going back with the unagi." I heard a female voice say. The blindfold was ripped off of me to reveal a pack of female warriors dressed like Avatar Kyoshi. There was an elderly man in blue along with them.

"You are the second group of intruders that have come along here to our island, so you better be wise with your words." the old man said.

"Why are you here?" the female with the short said. She appeared to be the leader of the warriors behind her.

"We were lost at sea. This was the first land that we sighted, but we were attacked by the unagi, as you call it." I said.

"Seems fishy... At sea with no boat and just an eel hound? Last time I recalled, eel hounds were transportation for shorter trips... Seems to me that you're more of spies..." the female said as she raised her razor sharp far to our heads.

"No wait! We're not spies! She's the Avatar!" Jian said.

The girl chuckled as the old man made a face. "The Avatar, huh?"

"Yes! I'm the Avatar!" I agreed.

The old man laughed. "You are not the Avatar!"

"How do you know she's not?" Jian yelled.

"The Avatar is already here..." a different female voice said. A water tribe girl emerged from behind the pole we were tied to. She was accompanied by another water tribe boy and a young twelve year old boy... dressed in airbender monk clothing and with airbending tattoos... My eyes shot open and tears welled up in my eyes. Those tattoos... the tattoos that I never received. This kid was an airbender.

"I'm the Avatar... and I don't know what you're trying to pull, but it's not very clever to go around impersonating me." the boy said.

"Throw them to the Unagi!" the female yelled.

"Tao! Do something!" Jian said. Right as the girl came near. I blinked my tears away and took a deep breath in. I airbended my breath and sent her tumbling into the rest of her group, making them all topple like dominoes.

The boy's eyes lit up. "You're an airbender!"

"Suki, let her go!" the boy said.

"Suki", the short haired warrior, got up and brushed herself off, glaring at me. "She just blew me over... I should let the unagi eat her for that one.."

"Well, you were suspicious that they were Fire Nation spies, there's no way she's with the Fire Nation if she's an airbender!" the boy yelled with excitement.

Suki looked at the old man. He had a skeptical look on his face, but nodded his head. She looked at the other warriors.

"Let them go..." She said. They obliged and unlocked the chains around us. They fell to the floor.

"But keep a close eye on them..." Suki said before walking away with the rest of her warriors.

"You may stay here to rest for the night... We will give you a map and direct you back to the Earth Kingdom." the old man said before walking away as well.

"Thank You." I said with a bow. I turned to Jian and touched his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. Those women ambushed us shortly after we got to shore." Jian said.

I turned around as the boy ran up to me. "You... How are you alive? I thought I was the last airbender! I-I can't believe..."

Suddenly tears came flowing out of his eyes. "You have no idea how good it feels to see another person of my kind..."

Tears fell from my own eyes and I suddenly hugged him tightly. "I know..."

I released him from the embrace.

"My name is Tao-ran. This is my friend, Jian." I said, pointing to Jian.

"Hey there..." Jian said, unenthusiastically.

"I'm Aang. These are my friends, Katara and Sokka." the Avatar said.

A winged lemur popped out of his robes. "And this is Momo." Aang said with a laugh.

"I'm kinda curious to know how you're alive too... Last air temple we went too... Well, it wasn't a pretty sight..." Sokka said.

"I'll be glad to all tell you... As soon as I see my eel hound." I said.

"I think they have him in the stable near where Appa is." Katara said.

"Who's Appa?" I asked.

"Heh heh... You'll be excited to see..." Aang said with a smile.

"C'mon, we'll take you to see your eel hound." Katara said, motioning for us to follow with a wave of her hand.

Jian muttered something and walked behind me with his arms crossed.

"What's the matter with you?" I asked.

He grunted. "I can't believe I got ambushed by a bunch of girls!"

"Finally! Someone who sees eye-to-eye with me!" Sokka exclaimed.


End file.
